Apparatus for degumming silk fabrics



`*July 7, 1942. M. G. HINNEKENS 2,288,949

APPARATUS FOR DEGUMMING -SILK FABRICS Filed Dec. 17, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet l A Trakls/EY July 7, 1942.

M. G. HINNEKENS APPARATUS FOR DEGUMMING SILK FABRICS Filed Dec. 17, 1941 2 SheetsFSheet 2 A TTORN E Y.

Patented July 7, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT GFFICE APPARATUS FOR DEGUMMING SELK FABRICS 3 Claims.

In apparatus for treating lengthy textile material, such as fabrics, to remove gum, etc., therefrom set forth in my application Serial No. 289,661, of which this application is in part a continuation, a fabric in fiat state is made to dive into a standing discharge bath by causing it to pass down with and through a stream of liquid directed downwardly substantially vertically and in part drawn by a pump from the bottom of the bath. rEhe diving of the fabric, or its entry lengthwise of itself, into the bath is done so that it will become draped in looped state over sticks or staves connecting parallel endless chains suitably driven in a horizontal path below the surface of the bath. The pump intake is positioned substantially directly below (and hence in substantial alinement with) the liquid stream, and an apparatus of the kind indicated characterized in this way I claim herein, the indicated relation of said intake to the liquid stream having certain important advantages, thus: It insures directly downward development of the fabric loops and makes it possible, by properly determining the pull of the pump, to develop them downwardly to the full extent required without the creation in the bath of undue turbulence and of a current tending unduly to displace the loops laterally such as would be the case if the intake were displaced from a position substantially directly under the liquid stream and hence the pull of the pump would have to be increased to develop the loops to the required extent. Again, the indicated relation between the liquid stream and the pump intake is an important factor in the removal from the bath of air that it is known enters the bath with the fabric and, rising to the surface, causes the fabric to float instead of hanging directly pendent from the sticks in loops. Since the effort of the air within the bath to rise to its surface is opposed by the directly oppositely acting and alined forces represented by the liquid stream and the pull of the pump I nd that very appreciably more of the air `that enters the bath is discharged therefrom via the intake than if said relation were otherwise, as if the intake were appreciably displaced from alinement with the liquid stream.

According to this invention, further, the air Withdrawn from the bath by the pump is segregated in appreciable quantity, if not completely, from the pumped liquid before the latter is returned or discharged to the bath as the mentioned stream.

In the drawings,

Fig. l is a longitudinal sectional and partly diagrammatic view of a de-gumming apparatus embodying the present invention, parts appearing by broken lines;

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view of the cascade device by which the liquid is discharged to the bath as the mentioned stream;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view of the tank and the means by which the liquid is withdrawn from the tank or vat and delivered to the cascade device and the air contained in such liquid is segregated therefrom and allowed to escape;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation and Fig. 5 an underneath plan of the nozzle I5;

Fig. 6 is a side elevation viewed from a point above Fig. 7, and Figs. and 8 are respectively bottom and top elevations of a blade of the nozle; and

Figs. 9 and 10 are, respectively, sections of the blade on lines 9-9 and I-l.

The following parts of the apparatus are or may be all the same as in my said application: The tank I for the standing discharge bath, whose liquid level is indicated at the conveyor for the lengthy textile material a to be treated (here a fabric) submerged in the bath, said conveyor including endless chains 2 connected at intervals by the sticks or staves 3 extending around sprocket-wheels 4 and made to travel as per the adjacent arrow; and means to deliver said material (here in flat state) lengthwise of itself (or cause it to dive) down into the bath including an endless blanket 5 extending around rolls 6 journaled in a suitable frame "l, there being here associated with said means means 8 to spray the fabric with pretreating liquid as it is advanced by the blanket as per the adjacent arrow. There is also shown means which serves to direct downwardly substantially vertically a liquid stream b` to cause the fabric to dive downwardly in the bath, said means being here a cascade device (which may be above the surface of the bath or below it, as in the Gretler Patent No. 2,161,812) consisting of a box 9 comprising two compartments spaced for passage between them of the falling fabric and having downwardly converging discharge outlets 9a to direct the liquid flowing therefrom against opposite sides of the fabric and form the stream b; but according to the present invention it is not altogether material what form such means takes so long as it delivers a liquid stream downwardly in the path of movement of the sticks and against the portion of the fabric being delivered to the sticks.

The apparatus formed by the tank with its standing bath and means (such as the conveyor),

submerged in the bath and movable generally horizontally, onto which to drape the downwardly fed material being treated in a succession of pendent loops has associated therewith according to the present invention means, including the stream-discharging cascade device or its equivalent, to withdraw the liquid from the bath and to discharge it thereto so as to provide the mentioned stream, and this means provides thesegregation, from the liquid transmitted thereby from the bath to its streamdischarge portion, of air conveyedby such transmitted liquid from the bath andthe escape of such air, thus:

Ill is a pump (shown diagrammatically) which receives liquid from the bath through its intake II in the bottom of the tank. This intake is preferably directly under the falling liquid stream b. The pump discharges to a liquid conductor here outside of the tank and comprising an upstanding pipe I2 leading from the pump, branch-pipes I3 leading to the respective compartments of the cascade device, and a header. The header proper I4 contains an opstanding nozzle I5 forming in effect an extension of pipe I2 and existing spaced from the intakes of the branch-pipes (connected to the header proper) and having its upper or discharge end spaced from the dome-like top of the header proper. The header includes an air-vent tube i6 upstanding from the header proper, preferably at the peak of the header but at least above the discharge outlets to the pipes I3, and discharging to the atmosphere.

The nozzle has a conoidal upper end and also opposite each branch pipe an outlet port I5b in addition to its main or axial outlet port Iba (the latter being preferably axially alined with the vent tube i6) and it contains, integral therewith, several vanes or blades I5c so formed and arranged as to cause the flowing liquid to whirl, that is to say: In this example they extend from bottom to top of the nozzle, they project inwardly therefrom but short of its axis, and where their outer margins adjoin the wall of the nozzle such margins are pitched or skewed to the same degree, as at x relatively to a line y-y, Fig. 6, parallel with the nozzle axis; and they are counterparts of each other in that each exists as a flat strip bent to curved form in transverse section and so twisted that its upper end stands displaced approximately 90 around a vertical axis with respect to its lower end, its relatively inner margin being straight and its vouter margin conforming to the Vertical contour of the inner surface of the nozzle. The concave sides of the vanes of course all face in the same rotative direction, and oppositely to the direction in which their inner margins are pitched.

In the operation of the apparatus the following advantageous conditions exist:

The fabric loops are developed downwardly to the required extent without undue agitation of and turbulence in the bath and disturbance and strain and other harmful effects on the fabric such as must occur where the pump intake is disposed relatively to the liquid stream discharged by the cascade device otherwise than as herein set forth.

Such air as may enter the bath at its surface is induced by the current to pass directly to and through the intake, thereupon to be segregated from the liquid on its way back to the bath, as will now appear:

The air-vent tube serves to convey to the atmosphere such air as becomes segregated, from whatever cause, from the liquid in its flow from the intake II to the discharge outlet for the header proper afforded by pipes I3. Such segregation is positively induced by the nozzle as an incident of its causing the flowing fluid body to whirl therein, the consequent centrifugal force active on the liquid being the segregating factor. The liquid issues at the ports I5b of the nozzle and also at its port Ia, but at the latter port in vortical state so that the air from which it has been segregated may escape to the vent-tube axially of the vortex formed. Considerable practice has shown that substantially all air that may enter the bath with the liquid stream b and which would otherwise be in such quantity as to be troublesome in the respects indicated is continually eliminated when the apparatus is constructed substantially as herein set forth.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim is:

l. Apparatus for treating lengthy textile material with discharge liquid comprising, with a tank containing a standing bath of such liquid and with means, submerged in the bath and movable generally horizontally, onto which to drape in a succession of pendent loops the material when fed downwardly into the bath, means to discharge a stream of liquid from a point above the first-named means substantially vertically downwardly against the thus-draped material, and means, including a pump, to withdraw liquid simultaneously from the bath having its intake at apoint substantially directly below the liquid stream.

2. Apparatus for treating lengthy textile material with discharge liquid comprising, with a tank containing a standing bath of such liquid and with means, submerged in the bath and movable generally horizontally, onto which to drape in a succession of pendent loops the material when fed downwardly into the bath, means, including a pump, continually to withdraw the liquid from the bath and discharge it from a point above the first-named means downwardly against the thus-draped material, the last-named means having an air-escape outlet extending upwardly therefrom and discharging exterior of the bath.

3. Apparatus for treating lengthy textile material with discharge liquid comprising, with a tank containing a standing bath of such liquid and with means, submerged in the bath and movable generally horizontally, onto which to drape in a succession of pendent loops the material when fed downwardly into the bath, means, including a pump, continually to withdraw the liquid from the bath and discharge it from a point above the first-named means downwardly against the thus-draped material, the last-named means having a portion thereof providing a rela- -tively enlarged space forming an air-trap and provided with an air-escape outlet extending upwardly therefrom and discharging exterior of the bath.

MAURICE G. I-IINNEKENS. 

